2023 Spring/Summer Archives - Cal Alumni Association

bright orange traffic cones on dark asphalt serpentine mountain road

_{sistock.com/sportpoint}

Lift Your Gaze

By Pat Joseph

At the height of the pandemic, I took a motorcycle safety course—partly for research, partly for the hell of it. Most of what I learned has since been forgotten or relegated to muscle memory, but one thing has stuck in my mind: target fixation.

Climate Change is an Energy Problem. Here’s How We Solve It.

By Glen Martin

Preventing environmental collapse won’t be easy, but we can still squeeze through the bottleneck.

_{Marcus Hanschen}

Regional Parks Provide Refuge and Recreation

By Margie Cullen

Preparing to head out from the popular Skyline Gate Staging Area in Redwood Regional Park, a hiker is presented with a number of options.

_{Illustration by Pushart}

Dacher Keltner is Awe-Inspired, and You Should Be Too

By Laura Smith

What Dacher Keltner teaches isn’t likely to land you a job on Wall Street or even make you more hireable, but that’s not really the point.

_{NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI}

Berkeley’s Alum of the Year is a Steady Hand in Guiding the Webb Space Telescope

By Susan Karlin

Two months before NASA unveiled the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope to the world last summer, some 50 astronomers and engineers anxiously gathered in the mission’s control room at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore for the moment of truth.

_{Jing Jing Tsong}

Despite What You’ve Heard, Sadder Isn’t Wiser

By Leah Worthington

There’s a pervasive idea in psychology that depressed people are better judges of reality.

Don’t Curb Your Enthusiasm

By Leah Worthington

For the better part of the last 40-plus years, Cal alum and Carnegie Mellon psychology professor Michael Scheier has been thinking about optimism—what it is, where it comes from, and why it matters.

black and white picture of Twilight skies over Sather Tower, (a.k.a. the Campanile) of UC Berkeley via Big C Trail. Berkeley, Alameda County, California, USA

UC Berkeley Goes All-Electric As Part of Ambitious Clean Energy Campus Plan

By Pat Joseph

Steam rises from the squat gray building next to Cal’s baseball diamond, the billows white against the blue sky. Long a familiar presence, the vaporous plume will disappear in the not-too-distant future, as the power plant that creates it is retired.

A New EPA Rule Targets Tailpipe Emissions

By Leah Worthington

Ten days before Earth Day, on April 12, the Biden administration announced plans to significantly curtail vehicular emissions through unprecedented regulations that, if finalized, would mark a turning point in the electrification of everything from passenger vehicles to big rig trucks.

Inflation Reduction Act Marks U.S.’s Biggest Investment in Fighting the Climate Crisis

By Leah Worthington

Last August, as Californians faced a deepening drought, Pakistan battled devastating floods, and the FBI captivated the world with its dramatic raid of Mar-a-Lago, a landmark piece of legislation snuck its way into federal law.

6 (More) Things You’ll Never Believe Came from Berkeley!

By Pat Joseph

Curb cuts, smokestack scrubbers, hanging chads, and more!

illustration of 4 hands holding each other's arms

_{Illustration using Canvas}

Berkeley Center Brings Science-Based Mindfulness to the Masses

By Leah Worthington

A stone’s throw from the southwestern edge of campus sits a squat, nondescript, brown building with a lofty dream: to untangle the science of a meaningful life.